By Express News Service
Cities in India have come a long way in the last decade, especially in improving service delivery to citizens, which has led to better governance and enhanced overall quality of life. We still have a lot to do, but we must take a moment to celebrate our achievements. The Urban 20 (U20) engagement group under India’s G20 presidency is a global platform to showcase the incredible journey of our cities.
For the past decade, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, has strived to guide and support cities on multiple urban issues, focusing on creating strong, equitable, and sustainable public services. Cities across India are actively developing innovative solutions to meet these challenges by becoming future-ready and contributing effectively towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring effective service delivery and management.
The Urban 20 (U20) cycle this year focuses on six priority areas, and all of these are directly or indirectly linked to city-level actions to make public services more effective and inclusive. The priority area is ‘encouraging environmentally responsible behaviours’, which stresses actions by individuals, businesses, and urban local bodies.
‘Ensuring water security’ speaks pointedly about water as a precious resource and what steps cities must take to adopt sustainable water management practices. Two priorities deal with prioritising strategic planning – one at the regional level to get benefits of economies of scale and agglomeration, and create avenues for shared infrastructure; and two, contextual solutions designed for ‘places’ to enhance local economy and culture.
For the past decade, India’s national-level initiatives, such as the AMRUT 2.0 (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 and the Smart Cities Mission, have focused on infrastructure improvement and service delivery. The success of these initiatives has led to better health and well-being of millions of Indians and enhanced ease of living and economic prosperity in several towns and cities.
The Phase-2 of the Swachh Bharat Mission seeks to provide adequate facilities for Solid and Liquid Waste, including plastic waste management across India. Some of the achievements include 11 crore households with tap connections having safe and clean drinking water; all our urban local bodies are now Open Defecation Free (ODF); 3,547 urban local bodies have functional and hygienic community and public toilets, making them ODF; waste processing has improved greatly, with a fourfold increase from 17 per cent in 2014 to 75 per cent today.
Sustainable solutions necessitate unified efforts that transcend boundaries, and the success of these missions is also due to the ministry being a point of knowledge exchange among cities, saving time and energy and avoiding duplication of effort by every individual city. Improvements in urban service delivery lead to many positive externalities related to quality of life as multiple challenges related to public health and well-being are tackled simultaneously.
I look forward to the upcoming Urban 20 Mayoral Summit in Ahmedabad to share our experiences and learn from other cities across the globe about their efforts in tackling similar urban challenges. The U20 engagement group resonates with our Prime Minister’s vision for G20, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (One Earth, One Family, One Future), as cities worldwide have always been connected as primary engines of global trade and economic growth. Now, cities are becoming leaders in sustainable development and extremely critical stakeholders in shaping the world’s future. As we progress, cities must emulate and adapt successes and good practices from other cities and strengthen this global interconnectedness.
‘Waste processing increased fourfold in nine years’ India’s national initiatives has led to better health and well-being of millions of Indians and enhanced ease of living and economic prosperity in several towns and cities. Phase-2 of the Swachh Bharat Mission seeks to provide adequate facilities for solid and liquid waste management across India. Some of the achievements include 11 crore households with tap connections having safe and clean drinking water; all our urban local bodies are now Open Defecation Free (ODF); 3,547 urban local bodies have functional and hygienic community and public toilets; waste processing has improved greatly, with a fourfold increase from 17 per cent in 2014 to 75 per cent now.
Manoj JoshiSecretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Cities in India have come a long way in the last decade, especially in improving service delivery to citizens, which has led to better governance and enhanced overall quality of life. We still have a lot to do, but we must take a moment to celebrate our achievements. The Urban 20 (U20) engagement group under India’s G20 presidency is a global platform to showcase the incredible journey of our cities.
For the past decade, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, has strived to guide and support cities on multiple urban issues, focusing on creating strong, equitable, and sustainable public services. Cities across India are actively developing innovative solutions to meet these challenges by becoming future-ready and contributing effectively towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring effective service delivery and management.
The Urban 20 (U20) cycle this year focuses on six priority areas, and all of these are directly or indirectly linked to city-level actions to make public services more effective and inclusive. The priority area is ‘encouraging environmentally responsible behaviours’, which stresses actions by individuals, businesses, and urban local bodies.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
‘Ensuring water security’ speaks pointedly about water as a precious resource and what steps cities must take to adopt sustainable water management practices. Two priorities deal with prioritising strategic planning – one at the regional level to get benefits of economies of scale and agglomeration, and create avenues for shared infrastructure; and two, contextual solutions designed for ‘places’ to enhance local economy and culture.
For the past decade, India’s national-level initiatives, such as the AMRUT 2.0 (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 and the Smart Cities Mission, have focused on infrastructure improvement and service delivery. The success of these initiatives has led to better health and well-being of millions of Indians and enhanced ease of living and economic prosperity in several towns and cities.
The Phase-2 of the Swachh Bharat Mission seeks to provide adequate facilities for Solid and Liquid Waste, including plastic waste management across India. Some of the achievements include 11 crore households with tap connections having safe and clean drinking water; all our urban local bodies are now Open Defecation Free (ODF); 3,547 urban local bodies have functional and hygienic community and public toilets, making them ODF; waste processing has improved greatly, with a fourfold increase from 17 per cent in 2014 to 75 per cent today.
Sustainable solutions necessitate unified efforts that transcend boundaries, and the success of these missions is also due to the ministry being a point of knowledge exchange among cities, saving time and energy and avoiding duplication of effort by every individual city. Improvements in urban service delivery lead to many positive externalities related to quality of life as multiple challenges related to public health and well-being are tackled simultaneously.
I look forward to the upcoming Urban 20 Mayoral Summit in Ahmedabad to share our experiences and learn from other cities across the globe about their efforts in tackling similar urban challenges. The U20 engagement group resonates with our Prime Minister’s vision for G20, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (One Earth, One Family, One Future), as cities worldwide have always been connected as primary engines of global trade and economic growth. Now, cities are becoming leaders in sustainable development and extremely critical stakeholders in shaping the world’s future. As we progress, cities must emulate and adapt successes and good practices from other cities and strengthen this global interconnectedness.
‘Waste processing increased fourfold in nine years’
India’s national initiatives has led to better health and well-being of millions of Indians and enhanced ease of living and economic prosperity in several towns and cities. Phase-2 of the Swachh Bharat Mission seeks to provide adequate facilities for solid and liquid waste management across India. Some of the achievements include 11 crore households with tap connections having safe and clean drinking water; all our urban local bodies are now Open Defecation Free (ODF); 3,547 urban local bodies have functional and hygienic community and public toilets; waste processing has improved greatly, with a fourfold increase from 17 per cent in 2014 to 75 per cent now.
Manoj Joshi
Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
